Pergamon

Pergamon is a very old city in Türkiye.

It sits on top of a steep hill. From up there, you can look down on a wide, flat plain. Today a town called Bergama lies below the hill.

Pergamon rises high above the Bakırçay Plain in the Aegean region of Türkiye. The old city sits on Kale Hill, a steep ridge between two rivers, and the modern town of Bergama spreads over the lower slopes.

UNESCO says the acropolis, the high part of the city, was the capital of the Attalid kings and a major center of learning in the ancient world. Builders set temples, theaters, a gymnasium, a library and long covered walkways into the sloping hill, inside a city wall.

The World Heritage property 'Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape' has nine parts. The main one is the acropolis on Kale Hill, which ICOMOS describes as a steep-sided ridge between the Selinos and Keitos rivers, together with the Roman aqueducts to the north and a healing center to the south-west. Around it lie seven burial-mound sites and, about 6 km to the north-west on Kapıkaya Hill, a rock-cut sanctuary that lines up with the acropolis.

UNESCO calls the acropolis the capital of the Hellenistic Attalid dynasty and a major center of learning, and says it 'crowns' a landscape of burial mounds and Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman remains in and around Bergama. It was inscribed in 2014 under criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi).

Pergamon had a huge library full of books.

It also had a theater with steep rows of seats. Big carved stones from its Great Altar are now in a museum far away, in Berlin.

The Attalid kings founded one of the largest libraries here, UNESCO says, and ICOMOS says it rivaled the library of Alexandria. UNESCO also names a tradition of making parchment, a writing material, that is special to Pergamon.

The Great Altar was famous for its carved stone friezes. They are now in Berlin, where the Pergamonmuseum plans to show them again from June 4, 2027. Down the slope is the very steep theater, and in the town below stands the Red Basilica (Kızıl Avlu), a Roman temple building later used as a church.

UNESCO credits the dynasty with 'one of the largest libraries' and with a sculpture school whose work became known as the 'Pergamon style'; ICOMOS adds that the library rivaled Alexandria's. UNESCO also lists a tradition of parchment making 'specific to Pergamon', and says the physician Galen trained here.

The Great Altar's sculptured friezes are in Berlin; Berlin's state museums date the altar to about 170 BC and plan to reopen the Pergamonmuseum on June 4, 2027. In the lower town, the Red Basilica (Kızıl Avlu) shows how buildings were reused: UNESCO describes a Roman temple that became a church, with one of its round side buildings used as a synagogue and later as a mosque. Around the city lie large Hellenistic burial mounds; the biggest, Yığma Tepe, is 158 m across and 35 m high.

In the photo, tall white columns stand in a row.

Broken stones lie on the ground in front. Behind them are old stone walls.

The photo shows the Temple of Trajan, a Roman temple on the top of the acropolis. ICOMOS says it is partly restored; the biggest restoration work there began in 1979. You can see three tall fluted columns and a square pillar standing on low steps, with broken blocks scattered in front and walls of cut stone behind.

In 2010 a cable car was built on the east side of the hill to carry visitors up. By 2014, archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute had studied the site for some 130 years, working with Türkiye's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The photo shows the Temple of Trajan, which ICOMOS says was built on the top of the acropolis and is now partly restored; the most extensive restoration work there was carried out from 1979. Three fluted columns and a square pillar stand on a stepped platform, with fallen blocks in the foreground, walls of squared stone behind and more ruined walls higher up.

In 2014 ICOMOS reported that the German Archaeological Institute's investigations had run for some 130 years, and that research and restoration were the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with the work carried out by the Institute's Istanbul department. A road reached the acropolis in 1935; a cable car on the east side followed in 2010. ICOMOS wrote in 2014 that it spoiled the view of the site but was used by most visitors, and asked for monitoring of earthquake movement across the archaeological zones.